My fish are dead

[reedlog]

First of all, I am new to these message boards, and somewhat new to the hobby as well, so please bare with me...

So all the fish in my tank are officially dead due to a bad case of Ich, however I still have a small crab, three turbo snails, an anenome and a snowlfake EEL. I was reccomended, and attempted to treat the tank with Malachite Green as the directions said but it obviously didnt work. I have now replaced the carbon in my filters and am going to do a large water change. My question is, is the eel susceptible to getting ich, because at this point if im right.. if there is no host the ich will die off in a couple weeks, correct? Atleast I am hoping that is the case and I can soon slowly start to restock my tank. As of right now all of the levels are coming up ideal when I test the water, and I have a heater that constantly keeps the temp at about 80. Any help is GREATLY appreciated

BTW, it is a 75gallon tank with just base rock and live sand, and as far as what is still alive in the tank seems to be doing great, Im kinda at a loss as to what to do now and would really appreciate the help. Thanks!

 

[flanders]

ick is a super pain to get out of the tank once it is in there.. this is a good article

http://www.marineaquariumadvice.com/aqu ... ish_1.html


after a similar outbreak i put my tank through a 30 day hyposalinity treatment.. and if i had it to do over i proably would have gone for more to be sure

hyposalinity may not be for you .. but this article should help in any case

 

[Anonymous]

Have you tested for ammonia/nirtite/nitrate etc.?
the more information you can provide regarding your set-up the more likely it is people here will help you solve your problems.
and btw
:welcome:

 

[Anonymous]

I think an eel can be a host for ich.

I would let the tank run as is for a month or more just to be sure.


Some in our local club use Malachite Green to fight cyano. but I disagree with that.

I am also concerned with base rock/ls that you may have had other issues. Which weakened the fish and made them more suspectible to ich. Just as I though I had in my tang before I added more plant life.

I would recommend you look into a refugium and macro algae to help balance out the system and to provide live food for new fish. Sure helped my sytem.

 

[reedlog]

Wow, this is great that I am already getting replies...

I did test my water with my test kit, which are just strips, and the best that I can read the pH is coming up around 8.2, the Nitrite and Nitrates are about 0, and the Ammonia looks to be about 0, also the LFS tested my water and also said that it is good and everything is coming up ideal.

As far as other specifications regarding my set-up, I know it is not ideal filtration, but it has seemed to keep the water conditions very stable, I have a Magnum 350 Pro system canister filter with 2 biowheels, and I also have an aqual clear 70 power filter hang on, and like I said there is a heater that keeps the temp at about 80 consistently.

There is 60lb of live sand and about 25lb or so of base rock, planning to add more but it is basically just a Fish Only tank. I have attempted to add a photo, not sure if it will work or not but this is from a few weeks ago before the fish started to die off, thanks again, hopefully this will help a bit more.

 

[Anonymous]

I would get the plant life going.

the fact you ph is rising indicates you had a carbon dioxide build up which lowered the ph. Just as when I first started my 55g. I basically hit a brick wall where any new desirable fish would last for about three weeks, develope white spots, start breathing heavy, slow down and finally die. Over about a 3 week period. My ph had dropped to 7.4 just before light out. Buffers like baking soda would raise the ph to 8.4 but it would drop down again in 3-4 days.

After adding macro algaes, a yellow tang had it's white spots clear up, ph rose to and has stayed at 8.4+ (just before light out) and now fish and corals have been in the tank for over two years.

 

[Anonymous]

Be sure you add fish slowly when you do. Like don't go out and get ten new fish on the same day and add them at once!

You might want to do some searches on quarentine tanks, basically this is a little temporary tank you put new fish in for a few weeks to make sure they don't have any cooties before you put them in the main tank. That is the safest way to make sure this doesn't happen again, and if they have some kind of illness, it is much easier to treat them. There are ways you can set them up quickly if you need to. If you like I can drum up some old threads on how to do it.

 

[reedlog]

I guess my main question is, what should I do at this point now? Like how long should I wait before I add anything else to the tank (I guess that is, if the eel doesnt come down with it), and should I treat the tank with anything else while waiting before I do add any other fish. I considered doing hypo since I need to change out a lot of the water (after having used the malachite green) but because of the anenome, crab and snails I am assuming that is not a good idea either, and would it be necessary since there arent anymore fish.
~Thanks again for the help

 

[zonkers]

Search AdvancedAquarist.com for "The War on Cryptocaryon".. Read all 5 parts & learn about the life cycle of the ich parasite, what kills it, what doesn't, & then attack it with intelligence & understanding. Practice disciplined quarantine procedure, & be prepared to possibly treat your eel separate from the main tank. Your main tank will likely require minimum 30 days fish-free 'fallow' time to break the life cycle. Do not believe anyone who tells you all fish carry ich, this is nonsense & they clearly would not understand the ich life cycle. Some fish are simply more or less resistant to it than others. Ich-free tanks are an attainable reality, take it from someone who's lived it

 

[Anonymous]

I swear by a product called "kick-ich." I used it when I had a yellow tang introduce it, with absolutely no ill effects. My lfs has also used it in his own tanks. Especially now, with the way your tank is, i would highly reccomend it.
It treats the swimming stage of ich, and is a 14 day cycle.